I’m so glad this mini-series has been helpful to you guys 😀 But wait – we have one more to get through yet!

Again, the disclaimer of all disclaimers – I am in NO way saying this is the right way to do blogging. I’m not saying I’m particularly great at blogging. I’m just sharing tips that have been helpful to me over my year of blogging so far.

So let’s get on with the very last round of blogger tips!

This last round is called “miscellaneous” purely because this is the place where all this tips that didn’t quite fit under writing, personal, or design tips go. This is the one with the random tips, or the ones that were added after the previous posts had been published.

This is entirely optional of course, but I think it actually helped people find my blog and social media accounts. All of my accounts used to have different names, so a few months after having my blog I changed them all to match “a frolic through fiction”. Granted, only Instagram would let me have the entire thing, so I had to improvise and use “frolic_fiction” for my twitter and snapchat. But the point is, having your social media names relate to your blog subconsciously reminds people that your blog exists, and almost creates a sort of brand for you. Newbies will discover your blog, and it will be easy enough for them to find every page you have if they want to.

This is something I mention all the time. Of course you should promote your blog. It’s something to be proud of, and you want people to visit. But don’t go overboard. As soon as you start spamming twitter/instagram/goodreads/any site with links to your blog, people WILL see it as spam and are more likely to get annoyed with you, rather than click on any of the links.

I limit my promotion to…

Twitter – Share the link once when uploaded (morning) then sometimes retweet or reply to that tweet in the evening, so that people who missed it might see it. Sometimes I’ll share the link again in the days after if there’s no new post, but this doesn’t happen often.

Instagram – I just have a small comment at the bottom of my captions saying the title of the blog post if I uploaded one that day. I also sometimes share a photo of the post on Instagram stories with a caption saying “link in bio”.

Snapchat – If I remember, I mention the new post on my snapchat story.

LET’S SCREAM IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS PEOPLE.

Just because you don’t spend any money on your blog, it doesn’t mean it’s less worthy than those who pay for theirs! Sure, it might sound better not to have “wordpress.com” or the like at the end of the domain, but having it doesn’t make people not want to read your blog.

I’ve had loads of questions asking whether it’s worth paying for an account compared to having a free one, and my honest answer is I don’t know. I’ve never paid for my account. But I can say I’ve never had a problem with my free account – I’ve managed a design just fine, and more often than not people don’t type in my full domain, they just type “a frolic through fiction” and there I am. So honestly, don’t worry about having to pay for an account unless you really want to. It doesn’t make it any less equal to those who do.

This very much links to the previous one, but on a broader spectrum.

Like I said before, I’ve not paid for this account. I have a free domain name – and even though I might buy it in the future, as of right now I don’t have money to spare on something as simple as that.

But there’s so much more to that in blogging, isn’t there? Still, I’ve not spent any money on this blog. And I’ll explain how.

Photos: Yes, there’s a ridiculous standard to book photography thanks to the power of instagram, but you can still live up to it without spending money. You don’t need to buy a camera or backgrounds or props unless you really want to. I know I haven’t. I use my phone to take photos and edit them. I use everything in my bedroom as backgrounds and props – duvet sheets, pillows, posters, maps, other books, bookshelves, ornaments, candles. Sometimes I even go outside to take photos (though that’s rare nowadays).

Books: Of course I’ve bought books. And of course, I use them for this blog. But I didn’t buy them for this blog – I’d have bought them anyway, blog or no. But even if you don’t buy a ridiculous amount of books like I and so many others do, worry not! Libraries exist.

…And quite frankly I can’t think of anything else you’d spend money on for a blog, so here ends that short explanation.

You are not failing as a book blogger if you haven’t been sent free books or ARCs. If they’re sent to you, you’re lucky. You shouldn’t expect them.

And yes, it might seem like everyone is sent free books. But I assure you, it’s not that way. It just looks like it because when bloggers ARE sent free books or ARCs, they’re so excited and grateful that they feel the need to share their joy and spread the word about the book. So of course, you’ll see this more often.

Lighting can really make or break a photo. Find lighting that works for you, even if you have to edit the brightness or rid some shadows. I find that the best light to use is natural daylight, as artificial lights can either have a yellow tint to them or be so artificially white, it’s obvious and has a blue tint.

Sure, natural daylight can be hard to work with because it changes and you’re not in control, but make the best of it. I personally think the gray sky sort of weather is the best for photos, because the sun won’t cause glare or too-dark shadows, but it will also be light enough. Sometimes, just a small boost of the brightness is in order, but everything else works out fine 🙂

All your favourite blogs might seem like the ultimate goals. They might have everything figured out, post regularly, have the best photography skills.

But every blogger goes through the “meh” stage at one point or another. They all run low on ideas, or go through a phase of not liking their design, or just don’t feel motivated to blog. They might feel like their blogging is pointless because the stats aren’t as high as they’d hoped. But look at them now. They’re one of your favourites.

Every blogger goes through the “meh” stages with their blog. It’s not a downfall if you do too.

Your blog is all about you. Your design, your writing, your hobbies. But it doesn’t hurt to ask for other people’s opinions too.

Do things your way. But if you can’t decide, why not as other people what they think? If you’re not sure about your latest design or graphics, ask people what they think. If you don’t know what to read next, why not create a poll to get other people involved? (I do this so often. I’m awful at deciding)

It’s nice to see what other people think. Don’t be afraid to ask.

This is honestly my favourite tips, purely because ever since I started doing it, rating books has become SO MUCH EASIER.

So you know how sometimes, you read a book and you just don’t know what to rate it out of 5 stars? It could be a 3.5 but it could also be a 4?

Well, rate it out of 10 instead. I don’t know how this logic works, but somehow it just does. Maybe because there’s more options to choose from, and 10 sounds like a more solid number to aim for. But think of it this way. An 8/10 might seem just a little bit too high of a rating, so you drop it down to a 7/10. Half it…and you have 3.5/5. There’s your answer!

It might sound weird, but just try it next time. It might work for you as well as it does for me.

And although there’s only 9 tips here instead of 10, this is the end of the post!

I’ve come up with that many tips lately, I just can’t think of one more to round it all off (annoyingly). But there we have it! I really hope you guys enjoyed this mini series of tips.

Great post! I’ve been away for a while, so went back and read the other posts that I’d missed. I love reading how other people create their blogs. Having only been blogging for a few months, it’s great to pick up some tips here and there. 🙂

I love your advice! I couldn’t agree more. We all go through those stages of blah. I know it seems to be happening with a lot of bloggers I know recently. And sometimes you’re so busy or unfocused that it’s hard to write. I can’t stand when people spam with self promotion. Such good advice. I’ve had some people do that to me, and I ended up unfollowing because I couldn’t stand it anymore. I always try to share other bloggers posts when I remember. I think that’s also a nice thing to do to sort of help out other bloggers and share the love. Loved reading this. 🙂

Thank you! 🙂
Spam promotion is just irritating – I’d unfollow too! Seeing the same link everywhere is just annoying. It’s okayy across a range of social media – that I get – but all in the same place is just a no.
I love sharing other people’s posts too, though I don’t do it anywhere near enough as I should!

Awesome post with solid advice! I love that you addressed the issue of “free blogs”. Several months ago when I was first making the decisions to blog, I was torn with this issue. I read so many conflicting posts on why you should or should not pay for hosting, etc. I went free, but not without free haha. So kudos! ❤

Thanks!
A lot of people are torn on the issue, but for me it’s always just been a simple enough idea that blogging is a hobby, so you should only spend money on it if you’ve been at it for a while, have thought it through and really want to. And if it’s not possible/not wanted, then a free blog will do the same job 🙂

I totally agree that you don’t need to spend money to be a book blogger, especially on Instagram. In fact, I much prefer bookstagram posts where people clearly have used what they’ve already got. It doesn’t take anything special to go out and buy props and backdrops and fancy equipment; in fact, it can detract from the creativity and often it just looks like you’ve gone out and bought a whole lot fo stuff. Natural lighting’s all you really need! 🙂